Second Caisse des Dépôts French residential fund raises €900m at first close

The property arm of France’s Caisse des Dépôts (CDC) has raised over €900m at the first round of fundraising for its latest housing fund.

The Fonds de Logement Intermédiaire 2 (FLI 2) fund, which is seeking to raise €2m, has received capital commitment from 15 institutional investors, half whom had already invested in the previous fund.

The first residential fund (FLI 1) was launched by CDC Habitat and Ampere Gestion in 2014 with an investment capacity of €1.7bn.

According to Ampere the portfolio manager and a subsidiary of CDC Habitat, the first round of funding will be followed by a second round this year to increase the fund to €1.2bn.

With a funding target of €2bn for total production in the order of 11,000 units of housing, the social impact fund will seek to fund major developments located in and around the Grand Paris Express project and in major cities outside of Paris.

Vincent Mahé, CEO of Ampere Gestion and corporate secretary of CDC Habitat, said: “This €906m financing drive – the largest amount raised in the European residential property sector in 2018 – confirms French and foreign investor confidence in the attractiveness of our housing market and the vitality of major French cities.

”This success proves that intermediate housing is now recognised by investors as a fully-fledged asset category in its own right.”